RWBY: Diverging Paths
by inxpitter
Summary: The Grimm are on the rise becoming stronger, faster, and adapting to humanity's weapons. All of Vale is on the alert, but Torchwick has a plan. Unfortunately, it involves Titus. All reviews welcome, from critical analysis to general encouragement. I do not own RWBY
1. Chapter 1 - Weapons and Worries

Titus sat on against the wall of the training room and breathed deeply. The practice rooms at Signal Academy were open twenty-four seven and he needed every hour of practice he could get before practicals came next week. The wooden practice targets were riddled with bullets from past students, but thankfully Titus' weapon didn't use conventional ammo.

He carefully rubbed the smudges from the side of his bracer. Just above the elbow was a miniature ring engine, the same design used for outdated hovercrafts. Careful not to get the cloth caught, he gave it a few test revolutions to evenly wipe it down.

"Ooh! That's cool!"

Titus looked up to find a female underclassman looking at him with delight. Or more accurately, his weapon.

"Um…can I help you?" he asked. The excitement in her eyes vanished, replaced by a slight blushing on her cheeks.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized, immediately backing off. "I didn't think anyone else would be practicing this late so I thought I'd go check it out and then I saw you weapon and the spinning thing and-"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down." Titus held out his hand, a grin on his face. "I'm Titus."

"Ruby," the girl replied as they shook. "Sorry, my uncle says I tend to talk to people's weapons rather than the people themselves."

"Well it is Signal. Where else are you going to find the weapons you've never seen before?"

Ruby smiled, and Titus not knowing what to do next invited her to take a seat next to him.

"So what are you doing up this late?" Ruby asked him, careful not to trip over her caped hood as she sat.

"You're an underclassman right?" Titus asked. Ruby nodded. "I'm a senior, so practicals are tomorrow. If I don't make it into Beacon, it'd be nice to fall back on something like city watch or maybe join up with Schnee Security."

"You want to be a huntsman?" Ruby asked excitedly, and without waiting for a response continued, "I want to go to Beacon too!"

"No kidding?"

"Yeah, I'm actually trying out at the practical tomorrow to see how I'm doing in my training. My sister Yang says I don't need to bother with the practical, but I feel like it's nice to have something just in case."

"Wait, your sister's Yang?" Titus frowned. He had sparred against Yang the day before as they used similar weapons. He had utterly lost. If she thought her sister had what it took…

"Yeah, I mean you probably don't see the family resemblance but we're sisters."

Titus thought for a moment. He couldn't say no to his curiosity.

"Hey Ruby," he said slowly. "How would you like to spar a bit?"

Ruby seemed a bit apprehensive. She scratched the back of her head and looked to the side.

"Gee, I don't know… I mean-"

"Come on, it'll be good practice for both of us. These wood targets aren't putting up much of a fight."

Ruby fidgeted some more.

"Well I just had Crescent Rose cleaned and weapon wax is pretty expensive these days…"

She just needed a little more convincing.

"You'll get to see my weapon in action."

Ruby perked up at this and eagerly nodded.

They situated themselves at opposite sides of the room and drew their weapons. Titus took a fighting stance and began revving the ring engine. The air around him began to whip up sending his black hair wild. Ruby, in turn, pulled her weapon's condensed frame from behind her and quickly unfolded it. Her massive scythe point landed on the ground with a distinct clack of metal on stone.

"Is that a scythe!?" Titus asked, alarmed.

"It's also a customizable high impact sniper rifle." Ruby responded, smiling.

"Nice! Though, saying gun is a lot quicker," Titus advised.

They would be fighting by traditional Signal sparring rules. Aura would protect them for the majority of damage, but in order to be named the decisive winner, you had to daze the opponent, disarm them, render them immobile, or make them verbally surrender.

"Ready?" Ruby asked, her hands on the trigger and shaft of her weapon.

"Always!" Titus called out as he rushed at her. The bracers he wore quickly extended to cover his elbows up to his palm, and the ring engines began spinning faster.

As Ruby wielded a scythe combined with a sniper rifle, Titus wanted to avoid a long range gun battle. His weapon, named Twin Lacuna, quickly pulled in the surrounding air. He flung his arms back and opened his hands, releasing a large blast of wind which propelled him forward. Once in the air he brought his right arm up and thrust it forward. A condensed pocket of air burst from his palm as a large gust flowed from his elbow. He would have loved to add more power to his attack, but he need the counter wind so his arm wouldn't snap off his shoulder from the force.

Ruby was quick to dodge and she fired into the ground pushing herself in to the air. She watched as a small ball of condensed air landed where she had been standing with a loud thud.

"That…..was…..awesome!" Ruby landed several feet away and looked at the Twin Lacuna with excited eyes. "Can you fly with that!?"

"I wish," he answered. "There's not enough to push off against to maintain flight so I have to make due with short bursts."

"Ohhh, what if you reversed the engines so you could walk on walls."

"Wait, reversing the engines? ….That's brilliant! I just need to add a few diverters, change the ring engines direction-"

"What about making boots!? Then you could glide with your hands and propel with your feet."

"Thought about that one, and it would be too much weight. Plus these things are difficult to use when they're full capacity. I'd rather not have too many high pressure containers on me at once."

"Hmm, it'd be so cool though."

"….wait, wait, we're forgetting the match here."

"Oh, sorry. New technology gets me frazzled."

"Totally understand. Ready?"

Ruby smiled and pointed her scythe behind her before releasing a volley of shots. Titus could barely raise his arms before the stalk of the scythe hit him pushing him back. Ruby smiled as she had won the initiative, but her eyes widened as Titus opened his hands. A large gust blew Ruby off him and she landed safely a fair distance away.

"Not bad," Titus called to her, trying to get his breath back. He hadn't expected that last attack to come so swiftly. Propulsion from bullets was a new concept to him.

"How about this!" Ruby yelled, swinging the head of her scythe down in front of her.

Titus was running low on pressurized air and was forced to use more of it to divert the path of her sniper rounds. They embedded themselves in the stone wall behind them with a loud chunking noise. Titus began to panic. He couldn't build up enough reserve to keep up with Ruby's attacks. This had to end now.

Placing one hand behind his back and one in front of him, he rushed forward. He was expending all the reserve in his left hand to propel himself, and some with his right hand in front creating a thin wind wall to deflect oncoming shots. He was right in front of her. Titus quickly closed his right hand into a fist and brought it back. The elbow opening blew out a gale of air as he focused all his power into a single punch.

Thunk!

Titus fell back as his head ran headlong into Ruby's scythe, which she had positioned into the ground. His aura protected him, but he still felt a bit dazed as Ruby helped him up. The ring engines had stopped spinning and Ruby had left her scythe aside to aid him.

"Wow Ruby," he stammered, "just wow."

"Don't feel bad, I mean, it was probably dumb luck that I got Crescent Rose in the right position."

"So that was on purpose," he said softly. He felt ashamed. He knew there would always be stronger people, but why did it have to be a younger girl he had just met before practicals.

"Really, please don't feel bad," Ruby told him, concerned. She started walking away. "I'm going to get some drinks. What do you like?"

"Grape soda," Titus responded, still in shock.

Ruby hurried away to find a soda machine, leaving Titus lost in his defeat. He wasn't the best fighter at Signal by a long shot, but if a sophomore girl could take him out this easily. He was hoping the judges would be lenient, but if they were enraptured by her skill, then his efforts would turn form standard, to sub-par; at least, that's what he thought. And the more he thought, the more the darkness took him.

Titus looked around and listened intently. He couldn't hear Ruby approaching, and the Crescent Rose was lying in the open where she had left it. Titus walked over to it quickly and held it. The construction was beautiful and he could tell that it was well taken care of.

He looked nervously over his shoulder, then popped the ammo cartridge out. Rummaging through his pocket, he brought out a small container of high quality weapon wax. He normally used it to buff out the scratches after practive, but he remembered that if the wax were to bunch up, it would harden.

Titus took a deep breath and then started to smear large amounts of wax in the interior of the ammo intake. When he was done, he was careful to leave Crescent Rose exactly as he had found it, and momved back to his original spot. His heart was pounding, and his hands shaking.

"I'm back!" a cheerful Ruby said happily as she dumped several grape sodas into his lap. She opened one herself and sat next to him again. "Feel better?"

Titus nodded, though there were new knots forming in his stomach. He opened one of the sodas and drank, not registering the taste, only the slight bubbly in his throat.

"You'll do fine tomorrow," Ruby told him. "I mean, that look of confidence as you came at me was intense. You'll definitely be fine."

Titus didn't respond. They sat in silence for a moment.

"Well, curfews coming soon and uncle Qrow will kill me if he finds me out here." Ruby jumped up and walked over to Crescent Rose. Titus winced as she collapsed it to its travel form and hung it behind her waist. "I'll see you at the practical!"

"Wait, Ruby," Titus urgently called to her as she walked away. She stopped and looked back at him, still smiling.

"Umm, make sure you check your weapon over tonight," he advised, sweating lightly. "You know, regular maintenance. And good luck tomorrow."

She smiled and waved at him.

"Thanks, you too!"

Titus watched her leave, and sat back down wondering about what he had just done. After pondering for a while, he stood up and gathered the many sodas Ruby had brought for him. He walked back to his room, and tried falling asleep.

He was not successful for many hours.


	2. Chapter 2 - First Day Troubles

Titus had been in only a few airships in his life, so he couldn't resist pressing his face against the glass. His future classmates were all around him, chattering excitedly about what was to come. They were on the high of their life; they were going to Beacon Academy.

After taking in the view of the city from above, Titus stepped back and sighed. The bags under his eyes had improved significantly since he had passed his huntsman exam, but he still felt a twinge of guilt every time he saw the color red. It didn't help that when he went to check his practical results, he heard that Ruby hadn't fared well.

"Why did I do that?" he asked himself for hundredth time. He pressed his palms against his forehead, trying to push the memory out of his head.

"Why did you do what?"

Titus whirled around at the familiar voice.

"Ruby!" he exclaimed, panicked. He took a step back. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

Ruby seemed as cheerful as ever, though she had a hint of nervousness in the way she held herself.

"Nice to you again Titus," she said, "and keep it down. I don't really want anyone knowing I jumped two years."

"How did you manage that?" Titus asked, incredulous.

He stood, awestruck, as Ruby told him about her encounter with the infamous terrorist Torchwick. He watched as Ruby grew more excited, recounting how Glynda Goodwitch combined debris in the area into massive spears that she shot at the hovercraft.

"Wow," Titus said as she finished her story. "So Ozpin gave you the go ahead?"

"Yep. I'm officially one-hundred percent huntress in training."

She was smiling, but still looked skittish.

"To be honest I'm still a bit nervous," she told him in a low voice. "I don't think I would have ever passed the legitimate exam. I don't do well on tests…"

Titus felt another pang of guilt in his chest. He considered avoiding the issue, but Ruby's crestfallen look pained him even more.

"Ruby, listen," Titus began. He took a few deep breaths, gathering the tatters of his confidence.

"Look, that night we sparred, I…you beat me and I thought that…I mean you had two more years and I needed…ugh!"

Ruby waited for him to pull himself together.

"I put weapon wax in your ammo inserts," he admitted. "If you failed the practical, it was because of me."

Titus looked away, ashamed to even meet Ruby's eyes. He was sweating, and thankful for the large crowd as no one was paying attention to them.

"I know."

Titus looked back at Ruby in shock. Her eyes were kind, and she was still smiling.

"Wait, you knew?"

"I do regular maintenance checks, so when I found a hard lump of wax in the insert it wasn't hard to figure out who put it there."

"Ruby, I am so sorry," Titus apologized profusely. "I had way too much pride and-"

Ruby placed her hand up onto his shoulder.

"When I said I was bad at tests, I meant it. My weapon was fine. I just sorta cracked under pressure."

"So you failing?"

"Nothing to do with you. Though, what you did to Crescent Rose was pretty low."

"I know, and if there's anything I can do to make it up to you, I'll do it."

Ruby thought for a moment.

"Do you still have the wax you used?"

Titus shook his head and produced a small bottle.

"I used that up a while ago, but I have this unopened one."

Ruby took the bottle and placed it in the pocket of her combat skirt.

"There. We're even."

"But-"

Ruby put her hand on Titus' mouth and shook her head.

"We're even."

Titus could only nod. Ruby smiled as she removed her hand.

"Let's have a good first year!" she said cheerfully, patting him on the back.

"Yeah," was all Titus could respond with, euphoria washing over him. "Thanks."

Ruby left to go talk with her sister Yang before they arrived at Beacon. Titus was happier than he had been in weeks. He was finally attending Beacon, he had discovered his semblance a few days ago, and he had made amends with Ruby. Even if he wasn't on a hovercraft, he would have felt on top of the world.

* * *

Titus was one of the first to get off the hovercraft. The academy was beautiful from the vivid green of its grass to the high spires of its main building. He checked his scroll, a small device that acted as his ID, phone, and many other things.

Discovering he had a few minutes before the opening ceremony started, Titus quickly headed to the left following the cliff side. He found what looked to be a safe spot and leaned over the edge. The view from the hovercraft was fantastic, but there was nothing like the rush from looking down at the town without walls around you.

"Damn," he said softly, taking in the immense view. He wondered how long it would take to fall.

"Don't jump!"

Titus arms jerked in surprise which nearly sent him over the edge. A small hand grabbed his and pulled him back to solid ground. Titus grasped at the grass, his heart pounding with adrenaline. As much as he enjoyed the view, he didn't enjoy the idea of being the guy who fell off school grounds on the first day.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," he said, between gasps of breath.

"Says the idiot who wants to end his career at Beacon early."

Titus glared at the girl who had pulled him back. She was petite which surprised him since her grip had been like a vice. She picked a few loose pieces of grass from her long, curly hair and threw them at him.

"I was minding my own business waiting for the ceremony to start and I find an idiot trying to commit suicide." She was irritated, and she glared at him through her spectacles. Her brown frock coat had a few smudges on it now and she scowled as she tried rubbing them out.

"I wasn't going to jump," Titus protested. "I was just after the view. I'd have been fine if you didn't scare me like that.

"Its my fault then?" she asked sarcastically. "God, the people they let into Beacon these days."

The bells of the Academy began to ring, signaling the hour.

"Now you've made me late!" the girl exclaimed. "I swear, the things I do for the common good. Come on, the ceremonies starting soon."

Titus followed her to the main building, though he was going to the ceremony with or without her. She glanced at him occasionally, as if keeping tabs on him. She placed him squarely at her side as they snuck into the back of the crowd. It seemed they had arrived at the middle of the headmaster's speech. Titus saw Ruby further into the crowd.

"I'm going to go stand with my friend," he whispered as he took a step forward. He was pulled back with a jerk of his hood.

"You're not going anywhere," she hissed angrily. "I'm bringing you to a professor after the speech to talk about the joys of living."

"I'm not suicidal!" he hissed back.

Titus felt hand on his shoulder. He looked back to see a very irritated middle-aged woman. He had seen her on the screens of the hovercraft greeting the students before they arrived; Glynda Goodwitch, one of the professors at Beacon Academy.

"Both of you will accompany me after Professor Ozpin's speech."

The girl shot him a look, as if he had brought Professor Goodwitch here. He could only nod, and wait patiently as he listened to the rest of Ozpin's speech; Glynda waiting right beside him.

They were taken to an empty hallway just outside the main hall. Glynda gave both of them a disappointed look.

"Titus Silbon and Connie Mongle," she read off her scroll. "I expected more from two students accepted to our Academy. Not only were you late, you were causing a ruckus during the ceremony."

"But professor," Connie protested, "he was contemplating throwing himself off the side of the Academy!"

"For the last time, I was just enjoying the view!"

"Children! Be silent!"

Titus and Connie instantly stopped talking. Glynda gave them both a long look.

"The initiation begins tomorrow morning," she stated flatly. "I would advise that you two refrain from being tardy."

She left, and Connie fell back against the stone wall. She sank slowly until she was sitting on the floor.

"Why are you so relieved?" Not that Titus wasn't.

"I thought for sure we were going to be kicked out," she replied, wiping the cold sweat from her brow. "I cannot get kicked out of Beacon. It would shame my family."

"So you used me as an excuse?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"Well, at least promise to stop introducing me as the guy who's going to kill himself." Titus paused. "Grimm Hunters?"

"Huh?"

"Your family. Grimm Hunters?"

"No, military leaders."

"Wait, what?"

Connie sighed. She turned her head and pressed the side of her cheek against the cool stone.

"Not much for the military to do in a time of peace, so my family thought it best to enroll me here. And sorry about the suicidal thing, I'm a bit sensitive about that stuff."

Titus decided not to press her for details and sat next to her against the wall.

"Family expectations huh? I understand."

"You?"

"A bit of the opposite. My folks want nothing more than for me to join up with the Schnee Security corps. Felt I should be fighting monsters rather than Faunus, so I applied to Beacon against their wishes."

"If it means anything, I think you made the right choice."

"Thanks."

There was a pause and the two of them enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere.

"Where are we meeting for the initiation tomorrow?" Connie asked.

"Um…that might be good to know."


End file.
